Wednesday, June 14, 2006

'The Farm' landowner to South Central LA...

Well, he didn't say that exactly, but the quotes he gave to our local NBC affiliate KNBC 4 Burbank/Los Angeles say just about as much.

"I'm not real happy with this group. Even if they raised $100 million this group could not buy this property. It's not about money. I don't like their cause. I don't like their conduct. So, there's no price that I would sell it to them for.

"Where does this kind of 'you owe me' mentality end? How good is that for America? What they should have said to the taxpayers of LA and to me is, 'This is a gracious country. Thank you for letting us have our garden here, but we realize our time is up. We've had our 14 years.'

"The gardeners don't make the rules. They don't violate court orders at their will, promise to get off the land and not get off, demand that they be given the land for free. There's an end to this type of thing.

"I feel that the gardeners have been on the land for 14 years, almost 15 years for free. After 15 years, you say thank you," -- Landowner Ralph Horowitz

It pisses me off that this guy has a Jewish surname, because this kind of perpetuates a stereotype that Blacks in South Central have of Jews since the Watts Riots of 1965. Latinos don't have as much anti-Semitic baggage but I'm sure there is some in that community. This will only make matters worse.

There was an 11th hour offer by the Annenberg Foundation made to Horowitz of his asking price, not a penny less. And as you can see from his sneering reply, he didn't consider it for a second.

The people who have come to the aid of The Farm are an honor roll of progressive celebrities:

The battle has been lost. But the war may yet be won. There is a court challenge in the works. But Horowitz has been tried in the court of public opinion, and has rightly lost. This was uncalled for, especially in light of the Annenberg Foundation offer. Fuck you too, pal.